By the early 1960s, Chairman Mao Zedong's campaign to modernise Communist China had ended in disaster. Known as the Great Leap Forward, it resulted in turmoil on such a scale that many had begun to question Mao's authority. In response, he set out to claim absolute political supremacy by launching a grassroots movement called the Cultural Revolution. A decade of terror ensued that would permanently alter the fabric of Chinese society, and result in the deaths of up to 2 million people. But what exactly happened during this decade of madness, and what can we learn from those who lived through it? Dan is joined by Tania Branigan, author of Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution, to explore the Cultural Revolution and how it has shaped China today.
Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.
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